“giving you access to commissioners and production departments but most importantly to the skills and experience of established writers”[1].
“At writersroom, the most important thing is our relationship with writers - and our ability, no matter how long it takes, to help them get their work commissioned and made”.[2]
At the BBC writersroom, they are looking for “those who want to write, who have an idea that is itching to get out, and who would like a guide or structure to help them take it from idea right through to a first draft”[3].
From the TV listings above, it shows that drama’s such as Merlin and Eastenders usually screen at around 8pm in the evening. It has competition from other channels such as ITV with shows like Coronation Street and Downton Abbey.
Inspector George Gently is a BBC produced drama about 3 members of the police force in Northumberland. The 3 characters are Inspector George Gently, Detective Sergeant John Bacchus and PC Taylor. The overview of the show is these 3 characters have to work together to solve crimes, with every new episode being a different story. It is a crime solving drama.
There are a variety of different bbc dramas, here are some:
- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
- Boys from the Black Stuff
- Casualty
- Holby City
- Merlin
Research texts
In the opening scene, in the episode 'Choices' on Silent Witness, you see Ainsley Modest dropping off his girlfriend, Helen Roach at a nightclub. After talking about and looking at the engagement ring which she is wearing, they both exit the car, with Helen walking out first to meet her friends. Modest parks the car and heads over towards the club when a car drives past and shoots at them using a machine gun. As a result of this, Modest's girlfriend Helen dies along with an innocent person. The characters involved in the scene were Ainsley Modest, Helen Roach and the doormen.
There are many ways in which you can respond to a brief. This can be through a contractual brief, negotiated brief, formal brief, informal brief, commissioned briefs and tender briefs. A contractual brief is a written document which is included within an employment contract, when you are in the stage of being offered a job. It will say what your employers expect of you, and how much you will receive if you successfully complete your duties. This can work both ways, with the client pitching potential shows towards TV corporations, for example Louis Theroux usually thinks of ideas for his next documentaries and asks the BBC for permission for it to be broadcast on their channel. This is also a commissioning process.
A negotiated brief is when the potential employee works with the corporation to highlight the objectives which should be included in a brief. This therefore makes it easier for both parties to agree on and sign the contract. When a new show is thought of, a negotiated brief may occur. This would be between the new shows producer and the channel. They would negotiate what can and can't be included in the programme. A formal brief consists of both the client and the employee having a meeting in which they will tell you verbally, and face-to-face what they require you to do. For example, this can usually happen when a producer has a new idea for an advert, a host of people will sit around a table a discuss what will make it suitable. This has happened in the case of Levi jeans. Whereas in contrary, an informal brief would simply be the client phoning you and discussing the aims and objectives, or through emailing. A commissioned brief is when a client will quickly request and employ a worker to fulfil specific objectives. It is the step before a contractual brief.
A tender brief is sent out via post or email by a specific company. This gives potential employees the chance to put forward their ideas before sending it back to whom sent it. They will then rival other people and companies who have expressed their ideas. E4 send out these kind of briefs, and it was the same brief they sent out to myself and my fellow pupils for our Estings.
There are also competitions which you can enter in order to get your ideas broadcasted. These briefs will be sent out to applicants and they will then produce their own production, after it is complete, every competitor will send their shorts to the specific corporation which sent out the briefs. They will then decide who has the best one, before they win whatever was on offer. Virgin media have these kind of competitions, here is an example of one of their latest winners in 2012.
When producing our own Estings, we were given a tender brief highlighting what was demanded of us to make a successful production. It give us implicit rules such as the length of our Estings having to be 10 seconds long, and that when it was finished we had to post them on our blogs and send E4 the blog address. However, before we did all this, E4 recommended that we look at previous Estings which had successfully been
put onto the website and there TV channel. They encouraged us to do this as it would help to give us ideas for our own productions. E4 were also clear that our Estings had to be finished and submitted by the 9th November 2012, otherwise any sent in after the deadline would not be accepted.
When producing my Esting, I constantly consulted with my tutor. As I was thinking of how to set out my animation, she would give her advice and feedback on how it could perhaps be improved and how it could be made more fluent. She told me to add things like a big top to my set, and to add more colour to it as my esting was centered around a clown and the circus. Once I had moved onto the editing stage, I consulted her on how to include soundtracks and how to make the lighting more consistent, after this I worked relatively independently throughout the rest of the production.
When I read the brief it was clear it wasn't particularly strict, the deadline gave me enough time to plan and produce my Esting to the standard I wanted, however I did recognise the consequences if I hadn't met it. However it was strict in other areas, such as how long the animation had to be and the amount of Estings we could send in and the soundtrack.
My Esting did have constraints though, as said before in another post on my blog there were legal, ethical and regulatory constraints. In channel 4's editorial guidelines it states "those externally who are engaged by C4 are responsible for the editorial decisions they are making. Crucially this includes making sure that all content they are responsible for has been subject to the appropriate level of editorial compliance". This can include harmful and offensive material such as violence, the use of drugs and discrimination against religion. Infringement of copyright laws is also included, so using someone elses soundtrack, or ideas for characters are examples of infringement. Ofcoms BCAP code impacts channel 4's guidelines by enforcing these rules against the programmes and video shorts they broadcast. When we had finished our Estings we then had to gather feedback on what we had produced. We used methods such as questionnaires, blog posts, youtube videos and taking part in a class focus group to achieve this. From this I found out what was good and what could be improved about my Esting, with many people praising the fluidity of my video but constructively criticising the use of the E4 logo. The continuity of the two clowns I used also had to be improved. I acted on this by re-creating my smaller clown so it looked virtually identical to the main clown in my animation. I also chose to hand create an E4 logo out of plasticine and placed against the cannon. I put this in the sequence of shots just before my clown was shot out of the cannon. After these amendments had been made I felt the Esting looked better, so the feedback and consultations were extremely helpful.
We didn't have to make any changes to our final budget because we didn't directly use it. The college supplied us with plasticine for our characters and we made our set designs out of cardboard boxes and materials used from the props room. In my case I used a stripy t-shirt out of the prop cupboard for the big top in my set. We also didn't have to make any adjustments to the time used because we finished before the deadline we had been set.
This project has helped me to understand animation much further and develop my media skills which I can now take forward into future media jobs. I learnt how frame rates affect how smooth an animation will come across and how stop motion animation is used in popular TV programmes and movies like Wallace and Gromit. It has enhanced my own skillset as I have learnt how to make successful motion picture through taking still frame pictures, and and it has also widened my knowledge in the editing stage. This therefore would help me in future as it shows I have a range of skills in both making normal videos and stop motion animation videos. At certain points I had to multi-skill, and I mainly did this when shooting my Esting, I had to both move camera angles as well as moving my characters, trying to achieve seamless footage. I feel I contributed a different theme to Estings. Out of all the Estings I have seen I have never came across one using clowns with circus environment. So I feel my Esting was completely unique.
My Esting for E4 consists of an animated clown getting shot out of a cannon in a circus environment.
What I most enjoyed in the making of my Esting was actually creating my character, this is because when I first started the topic I thought animation would be one of my weaker points, but once I finished the design of my clown I was very happy with the turnout, which you can see on the other posts on my blog. I also enjoyed using stop-frame animation, I was helped greatly by research I did on frame rates, which then applied to my animation made the Esting seem fluid and really brought my character to life.
What I disliked during the creation of my Esting was editing the brightness and contrast of certain shots. Throughout my animation the lighting changed depending on the brightness of the room. This made my Esting seem inconsistent so it was something I had to address. This process was complicated and time consuming, so I therefore didn't enjoy that part of my animation.
To improve my Esting I felt I could of got better material to make the big top in my set look my realistic, I also felt I could have improved it by making the smaller clown more comparable to the main clown in my animation.
When showing audiences my work, I could have put it on a variety of sites. These can range from a vast a selection, such as social networking sites Facebook and Twitter. Using these sites would have been beneficial as a numerous amount of people, both friends and relatives would have seen the animation. Therefore possibly increasing the amount a responses to our Estings. I also could have put it on my blog, or another popular site YouTube. Putting it on YouTube would have been good as basically anyone who uses it could watch it, and they are also given the opportunity to comment what they thought underneath the Esting video. I could also have sent it out through emails.
After I completed my Esting, I then took time to start gathering feedback from other people on my animation. I did this by putting it on YouTube, my blog, and also sending questionnaires around via email, and by hand. Myself and my class then formed a focus group to assist us in gaining feedback about what was good and what could be improved in our Estings.
The criteria I should get feedback on is the genre of the animation. From the questionnaires I sent out around 80% of the participants asked said they thought the Esting was a comedy, with a couple of others saying genres such as entertainment and advertising. The content in the animation is another. I gathered feedback from this through our class focus group. Many said that the colour involved complimented the circus. They also said that the tent and character made the content nicer to watch. However, they did tell me that i could improve by making the continuity better, and by incorporating the E4 logo onto the cannon or the big top. The style of the animation should also be covered. In the comments underneath my Esting almost everyone said they thought they animation was fluid, and this was achieved through stop motion animation. The technical, creative and aesthetic qualities involved should also get feedback. From the class focus group i was told that technically it was strong because it was smooth. creatively it was good because I included a good use of camera shots and aesthetically i got told it was nice because of the colour in the animation and the fabric used when building the tent. The character in my Esting also got feedback, i was told through my questionnaires that it was well made along with set and that they complimented each other. Someone also said that the character movement was particularly good. Finally the narrative also got commented on. In my questionnaire once again someone stated that they like the initial idea, being a clown shot from a cannon in a circus environment. The narrative was helped by the content of all the colours and set objects that I used.
I could have collected audience responses about my Esting by having discussions, sending out questionnaires, doing reviews, being in focus groups and gathering feedback from online exhibition. The way I collected my feedback about my animation was by sending out questionnaires, having a focus group with the other students in my class, and by acquiring comments made by people on my video through YouTube. In the film industry, a person would think of ideas for a production before discussing it with directors to see if it could be made.
There are various ways in which you can report findings. You can orally present them to an audience, file a written report, make an action plan or have a review. I reported my findings by putting them into this written report.
Overall, in my opinion, I felt my animation turned out to be massively better than I had predicted. The character design and the fluency of my Esting were notably the strongest points. The shot variation included also got a lot of praise, which I'm pleased about.
The format I have chosen to evaluate working to a brief is through a written report in this blog post. I was given a brief from E4 saying to produce an Esting which was 10 seconds long. After this our class chose to make it using stop motion animation. To prepare how we were going to set out our own Estings we watched loads that had already been approved to be on E4. I used my audience research in the form of questionnaires to see whether my Esting was suitable for E4 and its brief, and i found out they thought i should of incorporated the E4 logo onto the cannon or tent because it would of improved my animation.
Legal constraints did come into effect when producing my Esting. I had to plan to use different music before I even started shooting my animation because if I used a well known track it would have breached copyright laws. The way I acquired my soundtrack for my Esting was by going on E4 website where they provided a selection of music we could use. The soundtrack I used can be found in my Estings video.
Regulatory constraints also restricted what material I could use in my Esting. The BBFC and Ofcom are examples of regulatory bodies which prevented us from including footage of violence, nudity and anything else which may cause offence. These bodies follow the broadcasting code, so we had to double check everything we included so it didn't break the rules in place.
Whilst preparing to make my Esting I also had trouble with financial constraints. Considering we done our Estings at college we had a very low budget to work from so we didn't have much equipment at our disposal. We had to use plasticine distributed by the college, and because everyone in our class had to use it we had limited amounts to create our characters and props. We also borrowed equipment such as camera's and tripods from college to shoot our Estings, and had to do it in A4 sized cardboard boxes as our sets. This restricts us massively compared to professional animators like the people who produce Wallace and Gromit as they have huge set areas and resources to use.
Over the course of making my Esting I had to be organised, which meant managing my time cleverly. I managed make my character, props and set all within the interim deadlines, which was hugely beneficial as it gave me more time to go back and re-shoot if I had mis-placed a couple of shots. I worked on my own which helped develop my independent skills, how ever I was also keeping my tutor up to date with how far I'd got in my editing process so that she could perhaps lend some advice if I needed it. The editing stage took quite a long time towards the end, at the start it was simple, just importing my images an arranging them into the right order. However, towards the end I had to correct inconsistency in my Estings lighting, which was easily the most time consuming part. Although my teacher did say she found my Esting "very smooth". Thankfully I did manage to finish my animation by the deadline set.
The feedback I received on my Esting was largely positive, they said it was fluid, colourful and pleasant to watch. However, some responses did say areas in which I could improve, which I will take on board and place into my animation in the re-shooting stage. I gathered my responses through questionnaires, YouTube comments, and blog posts. All these coming from friends, relatives and the other students in my media class. It has contributed to my experience and may help to contribute to a career in media. I have learnt how to work independently, and how to use stop frame animation to make a moving image. I've learnt the importance of frame rates and how they affect the fluidity of an animation. I feel I have shown the necessary skills to get a job in media as I've shown I can make smooth and fluid animations and understand the importance of frame rates, as well as showing character and set design skills, whilst including a variety shots in my Esting. I wouldn't mind working in animation but it isn't my first choice to pursue at present.
My idea for an esting would be suitable for an estings on E4 because it might share the interests of the target audience. Through my research i was able to discover that the target audience for E4 viewers is in between the ages of 15-35. My claymation is a clown, which might appeal to the youngsters who watch the channel, this is because they might have a geniune interest in clowns. Also the older generation who may see it might tell their children about it, therefore making them more inclined to watch the channel. Which would ultimately result in E4 getting more viewers.
E4 is a television channel which has been launched as a compatriot to channel 4 and was formed on 18th January 2001. It mainly consists of american tv programmes, such as the popular television series 'Friends'. It also broadcasts other american programmes like smallville, glee and ugly betty. It has recently began playing popular british shows such as The Inbetweeners which is responsible for E4's most successful broadcast to date which was on 11 October 2010 when an episode of the show pulled in over 3.7 million viewers. The "E" stands for entertainment, and the channel is mainly aimed at the lucrative 15–35 age group. The three most popular shows being aired on the channel are The Inbetweeners, Glee and Friends.
E4 has also been widely known for its promotional campaigns and the very popular 'Estings' before programmes, which are also well known to be on channel 4 as well.
On 16 December 2004, Channel 4 announced that the subscription channel would return to digital terrestrial television. From its launch until the closure of ITV Digital it was available as a bonus subscription channel. It became part of the Top Up TV subscription scheme until 27 May 2005, when the channel became available on Freeview, with the potential to increase advertising revenue by attracting a larger audience.
My esting idea is to use my clown claymation in a circus environment. During the short clip it will show my claymation model walking over and getting into a stereotypical circus cannon. This will then lift into the appropriate position before the clown will be shot out of the cannon and fly across the big top. As this happens, the iconic E4 symbol will appear as he flies out of view. I also hope to get a jazzy upbeat soundtrack to compliment the theme of my Esting, and get the sound effect of an explosion for one my clown is fired out of the cannon.
The location of my set is going to be in a big top circus. I chose this location because my claymation model is a clown. It will be made up of material, to give the impression he is actually in a circus. I intend to make the exterior of my big top out of different materials, using cardboard to make it stand upright, and have the impression of a big top. The material I will use over the big top, will also make it look authentic. I will also use a soundtrack to go with my circus Esting, and I will get my soundtrack from the Estings website as there are no copyright issues, stating we cannot use them.
Thursday 18 October 2012
I had 'Rock the Clown' squeaking his nose, i did this because he is a clown and this is a traditional pose. The most difficult part was building him as it took a long period of time, and i could improve the quality of the video by keeping the camera stationary.
Description: Loves his job and being the best entertainer possible.
Rock the clown moves with a bob, shrug, and strut because his job invoves him to make people laugh and enjoy themselves. He loves to run, jump, and hop around to give his audience a good show, and he thrives off people having a good time. He chose to be a clown because as he was growing up he was always dubbed 'the class clown', and was always the comedian in his education days. So he thought it was necessary that he made the jump into the entertainment business.
Stop Frame Animation- This is a form of animation which makes objects move seemingly on their own. They achieve this by taking a picture of the object they want, then moving it slightly after each shot. This is a process which is repeated over and over. When clay is used for this, it is called a 'claymation'. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_motion.
Frame Rates- These are the speed in which a image or 'frame' is shown. The faster the frames are shown the smoother the object or person in shot will move. Three main standards are used in television and film, these are 24p, 25p and 30p. When frames are shown slowly it does not promote the illusion of motion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frame_rate
Joseph Plateau- He is a Belgian physicist, and invented the design the phenakitoscope in 1832. It is made up of paper with images on so that when it is spun it once again looks as if the images or moving. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Plateau
William Horner- He was born in 1786 and died in 1837, he was a British mathematician and school headmaster and has been credited for the design of the zoetrope, which was made in 1834. A zoetrope creates its form of illusion by putting images onto a strip of paper, placing it in a circular steel drum, and spinning it a rapid speed to make the images seem as though they are moving. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_George_Horner
Emile Reynaud- The inventor or the praxinoscope which was initially invented in 1876, and was a device used to amuse children, this is because it was the first design to show cartoons. The way it works is similar to a zoetrope except it uses vertical mirrors to reflect the moving images onto a public screen. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emile_Reynaud
Edward Muybridge- He was a famous British photographer renound for his work in phototgraphic studies and motion picture projections. He is the reason that motion pictures are what they are today. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadward_Muybridge
Thomas Edison- He was an American businessman and inventor, and has been awarded for the designs of many famous inventions. As of this he has been shown as the fourth most prolific inventor of all time. In terms of animation, he was the inventor of the kinetoscope which was made in 1888. It works by looking through a peephole at the top of the device. It was not a movie projector but would turn out to be the basic approach for all standard movie projectors used in cinema. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_edison
George Pal- He was born in 1908 and died in 1980. His first forms of animation were the puppetoons (made in 1940), the way he would make the wooden objects look as though the were moving was to make several different wooden carvings and putting them together so they look as they are moving. Animation played a big part in his live movies, especially in the 'time machine' in 1959. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Pal
Willis O'Brien- He was born in 1886 and died in 1962. He was an Irish American special effects and stop motion pioneer. He wasnt hugely successful when he was alive but did win an oscar in the 1950's for his work in special effects. He is most remembered for making the films the lost world (1925) and king kong (1933). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willis_O%27Brien
Ray Harryhausen- He was born in 1920, he was an american visual effects creator, and made his design for stop motion animation known as dynamation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Harryhausen
Jan Svankmajer- He was a Czech film-maker born in 1934. He has been awarded a crystal globe in 2009 for his work in surreal animation, this includes films such as the film Jabberwocky in 1971. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_%C5%A0vankmajer
Contemporary Work
The Quay Brothers- Stephen and Timothy Quay are brothers and identical twins. They are most commonly known as 'The Quay Brothers'. They were born June 17th 1947
and lived in Norristown, Pennyslvania in the United States. They are best known for their work in stop motion animation. The brothers moved and worked in England in 1969, where they studied at the Royal College of Arts in London. They later moved to the Netherlands in the 1970's before moving back to England and forming a partnership with Keith Griffiths, who was to be the producer of all their films. They formed Koninck studios in 1980. They made several successful films including 'The Chairs' which they won the prestigious Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Design in 1998. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quay_Brothers
Tim Burton- He was born in 1958, he's well known for his gothic themed animation films such as Edward Scissorhands and most recently Alice In Wonderland. After graduating from CalArts in 1979, disney offered him an apprenticeship. However, this didn't work out for long as he longed to work on his own solo pieces and went on to make his first and most famous film The Nightmare before Christmas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Burton
Aardman Animations- It was created by Peter Lord and David Sproxton in 1972. They are famous for their work in 'claymation' and created the popular Wallace and Gromit. Their first design was 'Morph' in 1977 but they went on to make more recognisable films such as Flushed Away.
Genres and Forms
Animated Films- There are many types of animated films, ranging from claymation to puppets, examples are Wallice and Gromit Curse of the Were-rabbit, and Coraline.
TV Animation- There are many successful tv animated programmes, especially in childrens cartoons. Some examples are Digimon, Pokemon, and Dragonball Z.
Channel Idents- These are small clips before the start of any programme on a specific tv station, channels most renound for this are Channel 4 and E4.
TV & Cinema Advertising- Stop Motion animation is used in many adverts for television and film, and example of an advert which uses stop motion is the Sony Bravia 'Giant Bunnies' advert.
Animated music videos- Stop Motion animation can also be used in music videos. A classic animated video is 'Take on me' by A-Ha. As the song came out awhile back the song became extremely popular because of the animated music video.
SMA for website use- Stop motion is used in E4's website 'Estings'. This includes a series of small clips added to their competitions.
The thaumatrope was a popular form of animation in the victorian times, it simply consists of two pieces of paper or card with two different pictures either side, so that when it is spun using a piece of string like shown in the video above, along with the theory of 'Persistence of Vision' it makes the images combine. This is because 'Persistence of Vision' states that our eyes capture and retain images for 0.04 seconds. An example of a thaumatrope is the flowers in a vase, or the most popular, a bird in a cage.
From the TV listings above, it shows that drama’s such as Merlin and Eastenders usually screen at around 8pm in the evening. It has competition from other channels such as ITV with shows like Coronation Street and Downton Abbey. 
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